Rochelle Ritchie blames Trump for Cesar Sayoc threats, Twitter for not taking them down

People who know Cesar Sayoc said they were shocked he's suspected of mailing at least 14 explosive packages through the mail, targeting Democrats. Some describe the man as a church-goer, others as someone who worked with strip clubs.
USA TODAY

SAN FRANCISCO – Two weeks before Cesar Sayoc allegedly mailed pipe bombs to political figures across the country, political commentator Rochelle Ritchie says she complained to Twitter about threats he made against her, including menacing messages and disturbing images such as alligators and human body parts after one of her appearances on Fox News.

One of the tweets from Sayoc's account read: "We will see you 4 sure. Hug your loved ones real close every time you leave you home." Ritchie says Twitter informed her that Sayoc's tweets did not violate the company's rules.

So Ritchie, 36, a former press secretary for House Democrats, says she was stunned Friday when she learned that the man she reported for threatening her was suspected of mailing pipe bombs to at least a dozen Democrats and other critics of President Donald Trump. And then, she said, she got "really, really mad."

"I had reported this to Twitter and they did absolutely nothing about it," she told USA TODAY. "What's abusive behavior? Do I have to be found floating in the Everglades in order for this to be taken seriously? Does a bomb have to go off in order for this to be taken seriously?"

Twitter took down Sayoc's Twitter account Friday. The social media company declined to comment on Ritchie's complaint, other than to say in an emailed statement: "This is an ongoing law enforcement investigation. We do not have a comment."

Late Friday, the company acknowledged it had made a mistake and said it would investigate what happened, tweeting: "The tweet clearly violated our rules and should have been removed. We are deeply sorry for the error."

An update. We made a mistake when Rochelle Ritchie first alerted us to the threat made against her. The Tweet clearly violated our rules and should have been removed. We are deeply sorry for that error.

Ritchie, who regularly appears on cable television news shows, told USA TODAY the threatening tweets came after she tweeted from the green room before appearing on Fox News on Oct. 2 and then nine days later after she made some comments on Twitter about Trump and rapper Kanye West. In her line of work, Ritchie said, she's used to getting nasty comments after doing commentary on conservative networks.

"I let those roll off my back. But this one was a little different," she said. "So I did reply to him and said: 'Threatening my life is a bad idea.'"

Ritchie reported Sayoc's threats to Twitter, expecting that his account under the username @hardrock2016 would be closed or at least suspended. That same day, Twitter rebuffed her.

She blocked Sayoc's account and put it out of her mind until about an hour after Savoc was arrested Friday. That's when Ritchie said she noticed her Twitter "blowing up" while she was at work.

"Some of the people who follow me were like: 'Wow, Rochelle, you need to report this. This was the guy who was arrested by the FBI for sending all those pipe bombs,'" said Ritchie, who unblocked Sayoc's account to confirm that it was the same person.

Twitter has been under fire for years for allowing a torrent of abusive behavior. It has vowed to crack down but complaints pour in daily.

According to Twitter's terms of service, "specific threats of violence or wish for the serious physical harm, death, or disease of an individual or group of people" are not permitted. But "vague threats" or "wishing or hoping that someone experiences serious physical harm" does not violate the company's rules.

"Out of all social media services, Twitter is the absolute worst when it comes to political divisiveness," said Ritchie, who blames Twitter for failing to protect its users from online threats.

While Twitter gives the threats a platform, Ritchie also blames Trump, whom she says has created a tense political climate in which his supporters feel emboldened to act on their worst impulses.

"If I, as a former press secretary for Congress, can try to have some sort of responsible rhetoric when I go on conservative television or left-leaning networks, if I can frame my comments so that it does not create a hostile or volatile situation, then the president should be able to do the same," Ritchie told USA TODAY. "Unfortunately, he does not have that same skill set, and this is where we are now, where these people think that this is OK, and it's absolutely not OK."

Asked about his rhetoric Friday, Trump said he has toned it down. "I could really tone it up, because the media ... has been unbelievably unfair to Republicans and certainly to me," he said.

Ritchie, who just returned from an overseas trip, said she hasn't found anything suspicious in her mailbox but worries for herself and others whose mail is not screened by the Secret Service.

"It's not OK to threaten anyone's life, whether it's our current president or our former president or members of Congress," she said. "But the difference between people like that and people like myself, commentators that come on television, both Republican and Democrat, is that we don't have the Secret Service vetting our mail. We don't have staff going through our mail to make sure that the things we are receiving don't cause us any harm. We don't have that luxury. What people fail to realize is that these packages are ending up in the hands of average Americans like myself."